Mental test set after moviegoer is slashed

February 11, 2006

SKOKIE — A Cook County court judge on Friday ordered a Chicago firefighter to undergo a mental evaluation and get rage and anger counseling after he was charged with slashing the neck and hand of another man following a confrontation in a Skokie movie theater.

Morris Bowie, 54, of the 900 block of North Trumbull Avenue, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery and one count of armed violence in connection with the alleged assault Jan. 28 at the Crown Theatres at Village Crossing Shopping Center.

The altercation started inside the theater after a 21-year-old Des Plaines man accused Bowie, a lieutenant with the Chicago Fire Department, of talking during the movie, prosecutors said. Bowie allegedly slashed the man across the neck and hand with a knife, narrowly missing his jugular vein, prosecutors said. They said the victim was taken to a local hospital, where he received 30 stitches.

The judge also forbade Bowie, and any third party associated with him, from making contact with the victim or his family after prosecutors said the victim's family received a death threat by telephone on Thursday.

Police are investigating the threat and believe it is connected to the assault. Bowie is scheduled for a March 2 preliminary hearing at the Skokie courthouse.